Hours before Thursday night’s game against Tampa Bay, Derek Jeter shared a quiet moment with Dick Groch, the scout who convinced the Yankees to draft him in 1992. Groch is in New York as a guest of General Manager Brian Cashman, and he told Jeter that he would not mind staying the weekend.

Don’t rush to get your 3,000th career hit, Groch said to Jeter. Stretch it out. Get one hit each day.

“Nah,” said Jeter, who entered Thursday with 2,997 hits. “I’m going to get three today.”

That did not happen. With flickering flashbulbs greeting his every swing, Jeter inched only slightly closer to becoming the first player in Yankees history to reach 3,000 hits, going 1 for 5 with a sharp double in the first inning that electrified the sold-out crowd of 47,787. When Jeter then came up in the second, fifth, seventh and ninth innings, the fans rose, cheering every pitch of his at-bats only to be silenced each time. Jeter grounded out on four straight trips to the plate, the last one standing as the final out of the Rays’ 5-1 victory.